windows xp

[mbugua]

I have a laptop running on windows xp professional edition. The laptop has only one partition. I want to create two partitions meaning I have to reload windows. But when I insert a bootable cd and restart the laptop I get a message "non-emulation boot disk" This is something I have not encountered before, be pleased to assist.

[malcore]

Does the laptop have a floppy drive? If so, try booting from the floppy with cd rom support and run the setup from there. Bootdisks available here (http://bootdisk.com/) .

Or, just run the xp cd from within windows and following the prompts, go for a new installation, then delete your existing partition, and create new ones.

Backup anything you wish to keep first.

[Sylvander]

The method usually suggested is to use "Partition Magic" from within Windows to repartition without losing the contents of the drive.

However, the way I usually resize the partitions is:

1. I use "Simple Backup" to make a backup of the partitions on that physical drive [2 = C: & E: in my case] onto CD-RW disks [this might be impractical for you if your HDD is VERY large, mine is only a 10GB physical HDD partitioned into 1.6GB C: & 8.4GB E:].
Then I re-partition [reducing C: & increasing E: or vice-versa][and re-format][I use the HDD manufacturers utilities to do this] so that the partitions are large enough to accept the files [I may move data files between partitions in advance, to adjust space required], and then restore the backups to their respective partitions. This is MUCH quicker than having to re-install Windows and rebuild all the software again. You have now gained the advantage of having both a system of backup and restore AND a set of backups.

Here are my standard notes on that topic:

RECOVER USING BACKUPS
The easy way to recover from all software [including configuration] problems [without even having to discover the cause], is:

1) As you proceed forward in time, make backups of everything on your C: drive.
Do this at regular intervals, particularly before making software changes [un/installing programs or changing configuration] and keep a log of all this.
2) When you hit trouble caused by a bad configuration change and no hardware or software changes have been made, [use "scanreg /restore" in Win98 or a restore point in WinXP to] restore a previous good configuration.
3) When the trouble involves more than just the configuration, but involves the files [including the configuration perhaps] but no harware has been changed [this is important because the software must match the hardware], then:
----------------------------------------------------------
Re-format the C: drive and restore your latest good backup.
----------------------------------------------------------
The software will "jump back" to the way it was when the PC worked.
If this doesn’t fix things, then it probably is not a software problem but a hardware problem

It helps if you keep the C: drive "lean & mean".
I move as much as possible off the C: drive [and keep it as small as possible].
The "Windows" & "Program Files" folders account for 95% of the used space on my C: drive.
All the data that changes day by day [or are considered vital] are re-homed on another physical drive [although another partition would do].
When I "jump back" I still have up to date:
a. My Documents. [Use “TweakUI” to move their home]
b. E-mails for all identities. [use the email client to move their home]
c. Internet Explorer Favourites. [Use “TweakUI” to move their home]
d. Temporary Internet Files. [use the browser (Internet Explorer) to move them]
e. Re-home the Windows Address Book as shown here http://tinyurl.com/24q6l . Use the key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab FileName” to specify its new address. [Its normal home address [in Win98] is C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book.]
f. Any other storage of data files you wouldn’t want to "jump back".

[Variable]

Sylvander when you only have 10 GB total space you have no choice but to keep your C: drive lean and mean :p
I have 60 gb's full of stuff.

For most people backing up their entire drive is not a practical reality. Formatting to fix a simple problem is likewise, not a practical reality because store bought PC's almost always have one partition - and that's what people use. Formatting loses all their data, people usually grimace and start to hyperventilate when you tell them that they will lose all their data. Your situation is not the norm that I see, the drives I see are usually bloated with all manner of software and the drives themselves are huge. If the re-install discs that come with their machine don't have the option of re-partitioning then it ain't gonna happen, so to speak. I always advise several partitions as you do though, just good computing.
I'll bet your house is immaculately clean Sylvander, best organized person on the block, no doubt.

[Sylvander]

"I'll bet your house is immaculately clean Sylvander, best organized person on the block, no doubt."
Not immaculate, but orderly and well organised. A place for everything and everything in its place. A well tended garden, but not the most orderly of all. Nearly everyone here keeps their houses & gardens looking nice.

"store bought PC's almost always have one partition"
As did mine when I got it, but I changed that for the better as I learned the tricks I mentioned. I bought a bigger HDD and made separate partitions and started moving stuff off the C: partition.


"For most people backing up their entire drive is not a practical reality."
My son has just got a new PC and I've suggested he gets a 2nd HDD [in a caddy] to hold the backups of the various partitions on the 1st HDD.
The C: partition is the only one that needs frequent backing up.
The others can be done less frequently.

"Formatting to fix a simple problem is likewise, not a practical reality"
I can only say I do it all the time and think it's great.
I did it [re-format and restore the C: drive] earlier today to eliminate "Opera V7.51", which I'd tried to uninstall, but the folder and files were still there. Now I KNOW for sure there are no traces of it on my HDD.

"Formatting loses all their data, people usually grimace and start to hyperventilate when you tell them that they will lose all their data."
Well, I lose none of my data because I don't keep it on the C: drive.
Everything that changes by the second and I don't want to "jump back" is off the C: drive, so it stays right up-to-the-minute. And I have backups of ALL of it, so it cannot be lost.

"Your situation is not the norm that I see"
I'm sure that's so, but I would hope that the methods I'm using might be modified for use in differing situations, or used as-is by those whose situation is close enough to mine.

"the drives I see are usually bloated with all manner of software and the drives themselves are huge"
WOW! :( I hope that like me you advocate better ways of doing things than allowing PC bloat. And if that gets in the way of a user protecting himself using backups then it has to go.

I have 73 folders in my "Program Files" folder, yet they only occupy 675,558,774 Bytes.
The Windows folder only occupies 604,389,206 Bytes.
Those 2 total 1,279,947,980
Total occupied by ALL files on C: = 1,286,915,302 Bytes
So they occupy 99.458% of the space on that 1,600 kB partition.

How do these others manage to fill so much space?
And if you/they have filled a 60 GB HDD, surely it's possible to use another [or a few] 60 GB HDD as a backup?

[Variable]

And if you/they have filled a 60 GB HDD, surely it's possible to use another [or a few] 60 GB HDD as a backup?

Mirroring drives is a waste for the average user. A simple back up on a cd rom will do for most people. I have finally bought a DVD-R and Im hoping to back up to it now and leave my new 80 gig drive for multiple OS's. I havnt installed it yet, when I get time I will be playing with it.
I use windows backup to backup system state and personal folders to another partition. I ghost my C: drive after my initial installation. Once I have all updated drivers and windows updates, AV and firewall I snap a ghost image and stick it on my last partition. Youll get no arguments from me about how it should be done. There are two kinds of people, those who do back up and those that will in the future : )

[Paleo Pete]

the drives I see are usually bloated with all manner of software and the drives themselves are huge

Same here, just about everything that comes into my shop is cluttered with all manner of software, well over half of which is usually unnecessary. One machine this week had a list of 18 spyware applications, 8 trojans and a bad modem...and something like 9GB free space to put more in...and that was the easy one to deal with...a tougher one 2 weeks ago had 28 different malware programs running, plus 4 or 5 browser hijackers. Adaware alone picked up 403 objects...Before being updated, that was just to clean out enough I could get it online..and after removing Sasser...

However...

You guys are the exception, not the rule. The average person does not know that all the crud available for download on the net is generally useless, and often brings along unwanted malware in the bargain. The software companies advertise it as the latest and greatest you-can't-live-without-it thing, and the guy down the street has no idea it's actually a BAD IDEA...He just knows it looks like a pretty cool program from the flashy, colorful ad on some download site...

So we wind up with millions of people having problems that can be traced back to one thing...TOO MUCH GARBAGE installed on their computers. Why? They simply don't know what you and I do about computers and the recent trends in software, and they have TONS of drive space to deal with before they have to worry about filling it up.

So we're starting to see huge hard drives with so much software installed even if it's not all running at startup, enough is running that their 6 month old P-4 performs like a 286...and they still have over half the drive left for more software...I've started to print up a list of all spyware I remove from customers' computers and show it to them. They get it with the receipt, and can hit google later and look up what they have been installing along with what they actually downloaded...Maybe one day I'll start to see a decline in 60-120GB drives with 20GB of crud on them....but probably not in this lifetime...

I'm WAAAY off topic here, what was the original question??? :eek: :D Sorry to hijack the thread, but the quoted comment struck a nerve...

[Paul Komski]

I get a message "non-emulation boot disk" This is something I have not encountered before, be pleased to assist

AFAIK a Win2K/XP boot disk should be a non-emulation boot disk; that is to say that it boots and runs but doesn't "pretend to be" either a bootable FDD or a bootable HDD by utilising floppy or hard-drive emulation.

So is this just an information message or does the process actually stall at this point?

[malcore]

Yes, winXP/2K/NT discs are non-emulation, adhering to the Phoenix El Torito specification. This problem crops up it seems specifically with notebooks. I've come across it twice. Once doing a re-install, and once on a fresh install on a "whitebook".

In my research, there were hints that it was the cd drives were incapable. I feel it is more likely a BIOS problem, or possibly a proprietary problem. In both cases, the process stalled after this message.

For the whitebook, preparing a DOS cd rom for booting did the trick. For the other, and in mbugua's case, the easiest thing to do (because there is a functioning windows installation) is to begin the setup from within Windows, select new installation, delete partitons, repartition, format, install fresh.;)

I have also seen this problem on a lot of Linux forums. Unable to boot non-emulation boot discs. All laptops, or quite old computers with old BIOSes.

[Paul Komski]

He He - what ingrigues me is whether the message is from the BIOS (which you would imagine could boot from the CD if it knew about non-emulation disks) or from the CD (which couldnt presumably begin at all if the BIOS couldnt interpret it at boot-up). What am I missing here?! - and would such older BIOS be able to boot up emulation disks?

PS and I agree about running the install from within Windows or from a dos boot floppy - it is worth always stressing to run winnt and not setup when the latter is used.

[malcore]

What intrigues me is that this problem (non-emulation boot disk message) appears to happen almost entirely on laptops. The message is from the bios, so the bios should be capable. It's not a very common problem, and definitive information is hard to get.

Not often are people installing Windows fresh onto laptops, as compared to desktops (laptops not being as DIY friendly) or compared to Linux installs. Most info on this message comes from people attempting to install a Linux distro (on a laptop). Most, if not all distros now come as non-emulation boot disks now.

The older systems, like Pentium pros aren't capable of non_emulation booting (without a BIOS upgrade), and give a CDBOOT:Code 1 error from the BIOS.

So, it may be a problem on laptops between the CMOS and the motherboard's IDE controllers. It is a bit of a mystery, and I have never been able to find a satisfactory answer.

[Paul Komski]

between the CMOS and the motherboard's IDE controllers
On reflection, this does seems to be the most likely source of the problem; either that or a CDROM Drive that is incompatible in some other way.

Since there must have been a way to have installed an OS on the machine at the factory and since using a CD would seem to be the most likely source for the files then since the system cannot boot from a CDROM using the BIOS Int13 extensions it must have been booted from a device using drivers to access the CDROM.

OK, I will admit it could have been installed from a network or from a HDD setup with the files on it before installation - but using a CDROM as the source would seem probable. That being the case it would be a good bet that these "problematic laptops" must have, or are very likely to have, a floppy disk drive on them.

What do you think?

[malcore]

I don't know Paul. Maybe these problem laptops are built using the "build to plan" system by OEMs. Copying a master install image to hard drives and then installing the hard drives into pre-built identical machines. No need for floppy or cd booting in this case.

On one Linux forum, a fellow had tried to boot a non-emulation cd on one laptop unsuccessfully, but successfully on another. He switched the cd roms in the machines. Same result. This would point to more of a CMOS or motherboard problem than a CD Rom problem.

Still a mystery to me, but at least there are workarounds.;)

[Paul Komski]

Bit of a mystery alright. Just wonder what these guys do when they need to do a factory restore/reinstall unless either their own proprietary restore disks (via floppy or CD) will be "allowed" by the system.

So if the poster cannot reinstall for any reason then partitioning "on the fly" with Acronis or Partition Magic might be the only answer after using these apps to resize the system partition down first.